Hope?

The only hope Republicans have to finally create their permanent political majority is to destroy every good thing government has done or will do for middle class America, the vast majority of us. The best hope for Democrats is fighting tooth and nail to save those very programs.

You can't fool all of the people all of the time…

…or even most of them sometimes. This is one of those. Via Greg Sargent...

...yet another poll, this one from the Associated Press, finds that the American people still blame Bush far more than Obama for the state of the economy, with 51 percent blaming the former president and 31 percent blaming our current one.

They didn't ask me. Make it 51% plus 1. Congressional R's take more heat than Congressional D's, too.

It's good to be reminded that a lot of folks are smarter than I sometimes give 'em credit for being.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

From the "Wasted Opportunities" file

Reuters- Former Vice President Dick Cheney signed a secret resignation letter shortly after taking office in 2001 and kept it in a safe, according to an excerpt of an NBC interview released on Wednesday.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Not what digby said, exactly…

Republicans are absolutely, 100% terrible on national security. Terrorist attacks happen on Republican watch. Wars are lost on Republican watch. The wrong countries get invaded for no reason on Republican watch. International terrorists run free on Republican watch.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Speaking of solidarity…

...kudos to 32nd District State Rep. Ruth Kagi (yep, one of my own personal state legislators) for joining 41 other lawmakers in voluntarily taking the 3% pay cut that most state workers had to take in July.

Looks like open letter day around here...

Dear Alicia M. Cohn,

If your lede begins "Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani…", you're writing the wrong story.

Unless, of course, you're writing about 9-11, but since, when Rudy opined that he doesn't "...want a president to become a commentator on 10 Republican candidates,” he failed to point out the fact that 10 is the number that falls between 9 and 11, thereby bringing to mind a titillating 9-11 anecdote that might have provided some rationale for seeking his views in the first place, well, you wrote the wrong story.

Good for us!

An atta-boy for King County voters, who are approving Prop. 1, the Veterans and Human Services Levy, two to one in early returns. It was the only actual decision on my primary ballot, since none of our municipal races drew more than two candidates, which moves them directly to the general. There was some sorting out of races in surrounding cities, and the folks down in Seattle seem to have finally decided to stop fighting and dig their damn tunnel.

The levy vote was a big deal, though, and the margin so far is gratifying. Turns out lots of folks hereabouts are willing to chip in a little to help their neighbors if you give 'em a chance. That's good news.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Bachmannia!

Michele Bachmann won the Ames, Iowa straw poll with 4,823 votes out of more than 16,000 cast. Ron Paul finished 192 votes behind her, with a very large gap between 2nd and 3rd place. Here is the full list:

Yeah, they're old.

Mostly.

So am I. Mostly. A random trip through time...

Dave Clark Five - Catch Us If You Can
The Kingsmen - J.A.J.
Country Joe & The Fish - Rock Coast Blues
Donovan - The Bold Young Bugger
Squeeze - Pulling Mussels From The Shell
John Sebastian - You're A Big Boy Now
The Beat Farmers - There She Goes Again
James Gang - Funk #48
The Texas Tornados - Laredo Rose
Dusty Springfield - Anyone Who Had A Heart

What Kevin said.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Why I'm still "In".

Because we don't have a president problem, we have a congress problem. Maha explains...

Bottom line, the single biggest reason FDR was more effective at getting his programs passed was not that he was “tougher” or gave better speeches, but that he enjoyed the advantage of an overwhelming majority of Democrats controlling Congress. In Obama’s case, even when he had a slight majority, he had the Blue Dogs in his own party working against him. In effect, he’s never had a real majority at all.

You want more progressive government? Focus on getting more progressives elected to Congress.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

On Wisconsin…

…as in "regarding."

Any election day that Democratic challengers defeat a third of the Republican incumbents on the ballot is a good one. Any movement that can recruit candidates, organize a petition drive, conduct campaigns and achieve that outcome in a few short months is a successful one.

Chart of the day.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

If you're hereabouts...

...and you're waiting for election returns from Wisconsin, you can fill some of the time filling out and returning that primary ballot your county sent you, or bugging your friends and relations to follow the good example you've already set.

I know it's not very exciting in some jurisdictions - here in Shoreline we've got an uncontested judicial candidate and a levy renewal. That levy renewal, though, which will continue the good work the Veterans and Human Services Levy has been doing not only for vets but in helping to maintain the never more threatened, never more needed human services infrastructure in King County communities.

Saturday, August 06, 2011

The Once and Future Speaker…

"Every day we are talking about debt we are not talking about jobs, and that's a victory for the other side."

In the minority, the most important job is to frame the debate in a way that brings you a majority. If the debate is between cutting taxes (for, well just for worse, the GOP deficit reduction plan) and creating jobs, jobs sound like a winner.

Here 'tis...

Pulled this week's random ten from a subdirectory full of blues, folk and country mostly from the first half of the 20th century. Maybe it's a bit of a shame they don't write 'em like that anymore, but it's a blessing they don't record 'em like that anymore. Amazing how much good stuff shines through those old shellacs, though...

Friday, August 05, 2011

Blame?

So what will the "progressives" do? Matt Osborne frames the choices...

There are two ways progressives can react: (A) use the next three months as an opportunity to drive teabaggery to the margins by agitating for change with Congress as their focus, or (B) bitch about Obama some more to make their irrelevance complete.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

From the "Me too" file.

Don't worry, Barry, you've still got me. I'm old and slow to change and stubborn and sometimes not too smart and right now I'm so disappointed with you that I could just sh*t, but I still love you. I still have the hopelessness of faith in you and where else am I gonna go anyway? I'll keep hoping and waiting for you to come around and in the meantime you can sleep in the doghouse.

Chart of the day.

Via Meteor Blades...A few questions occur. How many of those folks have been following the debt ceiling debate or care at all who 'won' it? How many of them are represented by Republicans in Congress? How many of them voted in 2010? How many more voted in 2008? How do we get 'em to the polls in 2012?